College campuses catching up with mobile trends

Today’s college students are likely to come to campus with a collection of mobile devices they rely on, but schools often have been slow out of the gate in capitalizing on the trend, experts say.

Nearly 80 percent of colleges and universities reported they either had or would be activating mobile apps last year, according to the 2013 Campus Computing Survey. This is up from just a quarter in 2010. Full saturation is expected by the next academic year according to K.C. Green, founding director of the project.

The extent to which schools employ mobile technology runs the gamut from simple apps that provide campus maps, bus schedules or emergency alerts to more robust offerings that include access to coursework through platforms like Blackboard. Generally, campuses have been lagging.